Variable sign



Oct. 12, 1943. J HADERT 2,331,832

' VARIABLE SIGN Filed May a, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet ,1

g] r won for A. J. HADERT VARIABLE SIGN Filed May 8, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 aYZeTZ (17/ Patented Oct. 12, 1943 UNIT ED STATES PATENT OFF VARIABLE SIGN Albert J. Hadert,-Fort Lauder-dale, Fla. Application May 8, 1941, Serial No. 392,542

11 Claims.

This invention relates to variable price signs. While the device of the invention is of utility in many different fields, it is of marked utility in the automobile industry and particularly in the used-car industry. Dealers in used-cars are faced with the problem .of' providing price carrying signs for the used-cars. These cars are frequently placed on open lots where they are left unattended, sometimes over considerable periods of time. Under these conditions, there is always the possibility that some unauthorized or dishonest person, either from a spirit of malicious mischief or in an endeavor to purchase a car at Iess than its marked price,.may remove one price tag and substitute another.

It is a. primary object of the present invention to provide a variable price. sign adapted to be held, in protected position, upon the inside of the Windshield of an automobile by vacuum cups or like supports which will not mar the glass of the windshield.

The many features of advantage inherent in this invention will be more easily comprehended after a consideration of the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of the sign looking, from the rear and with one of the end walls removed;

Fig. 2. is a fragmentary view of the rear wall of the casing;

Fig.3 isa view of a sliding door or plate having openings therein adapted to be moved into and out of alignment with like openings in the rear wall;

Fig. 4 is a partial longitudinal sectional view;

Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical sectional view on line 55 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary front elevation;

Fig. '7 is a cross sectional view through the locking plate and rear wall illustrating a lock hereinafter described;

Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic view illustrating one form of tensioning means which may be employed, and,

Fig; 9 is a diagrammatic View illustrating another form of tensioning means.

Like numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

The sign of the invention comprises a front wall 5 in the form of a rectangular plate. Vacuum cups 6 at the corners of the plate provide means for supporting the sign upon the windshield, the rear window, the glass of the doors or any other suitable transparent surface, through which the figures or other indicia carried by the sign may be viewed".

A casing 1, which may be of sheet metai or any of the hard rubber or plastic compositions now so popular, houses a group of upper rollers 8 and a group of lower rollers 9, the rollers 8' being disposed end to end and the rollers il'be'ing disposed end to end. These rollers are free t'd rotate upon shafts l0 and H, said shafts being mounted in the end walls of the casing and in suitable partitions l2 disposed at spaced intervals along the casing.

The characters, indicated at 13 in Fig. 6,,which complementally constitute a price Sign, are carried upon the ribbons Hi, there being one of these ribbons for each unit. A unit comprises an: upper roller, a lower roller therebeneathv and the associated ribbon I l. The plate 5 is provided. with. upper and lower slots 5 for the passage of the ribbons therethrough so that a run P5 of each ribbon extends. vertically over the face of the. plate and displays a numeral or other character visible through the glass surface upon which the structure is held by the vacuum cups.

The ribbons. are wound upon their respective upper and lower rollers, and it will be observed that after the ribbons pass'inwardly throughthe slots 5 they do not extend to the outer sides of the rollers, but, upon the contrary, are directed toward the inner sides of the. rollers. The result of this arrangement is that those surfaces of the ribbons which carry the characters are disposed inside the convolutions upon the rollers and that that surface of the ribbon which constitutes its back is disposed at the outer faceof the com/clu tions, as for example atthe points X-Yin Fig. 5. This is a feature of importance, because the rollers are manipulated by direct contactof the fingers of the operator with the ribbons at thepoints X-Y. Under the .arrangement shown, the fingers do not come in contact with that surface-of.- the ribbon which carries the characters but, upon the contrary, come into contact only with that surface representing the back of the ribbon.

It is desirable-to employ a fabric or web having a relatively smooth surface for the .receptionat the characters and a relatively rough surfacefor engagement by the fingers. I- found oilclothltu be very suitable. Its glossy face presents a,; smooth surface for the reception of the characters and a pleasing appearance, while its: rough rear surface gives the desirable frictional :,q;ua-li-- ties at the point of .engagementwith the fingers.

To hold the web litaut and to. present :a neat; appearance, the rollers should be tensionediand any tensioning device employed should be such as to compensate for the fact that sometimes more of a ribbon or web is wound upon one roller than upon the other. In Fig. 5 I have illustrated a form of tensioning device in the form of a Y-shaped spring l6, pivoted upon a stud l1, there being one tensioning device for each unit and the studs 11 being carried by the end walls of the casing or partitions as the case may be.

The tensioning device illustrated in Fig. 8 comprises a tensioning shoe I8 drawn by a spring I9 toward the front wall of the casing, to which one end of the spring I9 is attached at 20. The connection of the other end of the spring with shoe l8 at 2| permits such rocking of the shoe as will compensate for the fact that the windings upon the upper roller become larger as those upon the lower roller become smaller, and vice versa.

In Fig. 9, the tensioning device comprises a simple elastic band 22 bearing upon the windings of the two rollers and expanding or contracting as the rollers grow larger or smaller.

Many ways may be resorted to for permitting access to the interior of the casing for the purpose of manipulating the rollers and bringing the desired characters into view. While ordinary hinged doors might be employed, it has been found that in thin walled structures, these doors soon get out of shape and their locking devices fail to register. One form of closure that I have found to be very eflicient consists of a sliding plate 23. Ways 24 carried by the rear wall of the casing provide means for slidably mounting the plate 23. The rear wall of the casing is provided, in the particular illustration shown, with four openings 25 and the plate is provided with three openings 26. The arrangement shown makes it possible to make the plate 23 enough shorter than the casing so that it may have direct material endwise movement with respect to the casing. When the plate is at its right limit of movement, the openings 25 of the plate are aligned with the three right-hand openings of the casing and the left-hand opening of the casing is uncovered. At this time, access may be had to the rollers for manipulating the same as described. When the plate is moved to its left-hand limit of movement, its portion 23*- covers the lefthand opening of the casing and the openings 26 of the plate are moved out of registry with the remaining openings of the easmg.

The plate 23 is provided with ears 23* which may be engaged by a slender rod such as a lead pencil inserted through openings 21 in the end walls of the casing for opening or closing the same. Any suitable way may be resorted to for locking the plate against movement. One such way is illustrated in Fig. '7 where a disc 28 is mounted in an inclined slot 29 and is adapted to engage a slot 30 in plate 23. Looking disc 28 can be released only by inverting the sign so that the disc will roll gravitally into the recess 29. This recess may be formed in any of the partitions I2.

From the foregoing description it will be very clear that no exterior operating mechanism, such as knobs, is required and the whole structure may be manufactured at a very low cost and will present a pleasing and ornamental streamlined appearance. It will further be seen that in a business in which dirty hands are the rule and not the exception, an arrangement has been provided for protecting the signs surface against contact by the fingers. It will also be seen that the sign can not be changed without bodily removing it from the windshield and inverting it, and this can not be done if the doors of the unattended car are kept locked.

Further, even if a person could find access to the sign, he would not be able to change its showing unless he knew enough about its internal mechanism to know how to manipulate the lock and closure plate.

It is apparent that many ways will readily suggest themselves to those skilled in the art for modifying this arrangement while retaining the basic advantages herein outlined. Therefore, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise construction set forth, but that it includes within its purview whatever changes fairly come within either the terms or the spirit of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A sign of the character described, comprising a casing, a display unit in said casing consisting of a ribbon, a pair of rollers upon which the ends of the ribbon are wound, means for holding the casing upon a transparent pane with the face of the casing disposed toward said pane, a part of the run of the ribbon which extends between the rollers lying outside of the front wall of the casing, the face of the ribbon which lies toward the transparent pane carrying suitable sign characters, the winding of the ribbon upon the rollers being in such direction that the inner face of the ribbon is exposed at those surfaces of the rollers which lie toward each other, the rear face of the casing being provided with an opening so dimensioned and positioned that the fingers of the user may pass through said opening and reach those surfaces of both of the rollers which lie toward each other, a

closure for closing said opening, and means for locking said closure.

2. A sign of the character described, comprising an elongated casing, a plurality of display units arranged side by side in said casing, said casing including a front wall and a rear wall, each of said units comprising a ribbon and a pair of rollers upon which the ends of the ribbon are wound, one of the rollers of each pair being at the top of the casing, and the other roller of each pair being at the bottom of the casing, means for holding the casing upon a transparent pane with the face of the casing disposed toward said pane, a part of the run of the ribbon which extends between the rollers lying outside of the front wall of the casing, the outer faces of said runs carrying suitable sign characters, the said ribbons being wound upon the rollers from the inner or confronting sides thereof so that those portions of the runs which constitute the outer and sign character carrying surfaces are wound inside of the convolutions upon the rollers to be thereby protected and so that the rear surfaces of said ribbons are exposed upon the rollers at the confronting sides thereof, the rear faces of the casing being provided with openings through which those portions of the ribbons which are wound upon the rollers may be directly engaged by the fingers of the user to thereby shift the positions of the ribbons in changing the sign, a slidable closure common to all of said openings and simultaneously opening or closing all of them by its movement, and means for locking said closure.

3. A display sign of the character described comprising a casing divided by partitions into a plurality of compartments spaced lengthwise of the casing, the front wall of the casing having a pair of slots vertically spaced from each other in the front of each compartment, an upper and a lower roller in each compartment, a character carrying web for each compartment, said webs being passed through the slots with a run of the web outside of the slots and with the character carrying face of the web outwardly disposed, the ends of said webs being then wound upon the rollers from the inner sides thereof so that the outer faces of the webs will be inwardly disposed in the windings upon the rollers and so that the rear faces of the webs will be outermost at the confronting surfaces of the two rollers, the rear wall of the casing being provided with a plurality of openings of a size to permit the insertion of the fingers of the user into the casing to engage the surfaces of the rollers to turn the same, a plate slidably mounted upon the rear wall of the casing and provided with a plurality of openings which, in one position of the plate register with the openings of the rear wall of the casing, and, in another position of the plate lie out of registry with said openings of the casing, an inclined pocket carried by one of the partitions of the casing, a gravitally actuated member in said pocket, and an opening in said plate adapted to be engaged by said disk and to be held against movement by said member until the casing is bodily inverted.

4. A structure as recited in claim 1, in combination with tensioning means for the rollers bearing upon both rollers in all positions of the ribbon but yieldable to maintain such bearing upon the rollers throughout all changes of relative diameters of the winding upon the rollers during the shifting of the ribbon.

5. A structure as recited in claim 1, in combination with a pivotally mounted Y-shaped tensioning device, the extremities of which engage its associated rollers, the pivoting of such Y- shaped structure permitting such rocking of the same upon its pivot that the extremity of one arm of the Y-shaped structure may move toward the roller from which the ribbon i being withdrawn, and may move away from the roller upon which the ribbon is being wound.

6. A structure of the character described, comprising a casing, a plurality of adjustable display units therein comprising character carrying elements, portions of which are disposed at the front face of the casing, means for holding said casing upon a transparent pane with its front face toward said pane, the rear wall of said casing being provided with a plurality of spaced openings and a slidably mounted plate upon said wall and capable of endwise movement with respect to the wall, said plate carrying openings adapted to register with the openings of the casing.

7. A structure as recited in claim 6 wherein the openings in the plate are one less in number than the openings in the casing and wherein the length and throw of the plate i such that when in one position its openings register with all but one of the openings of the casing and its end uncovers the remaining opening, and when in the other position, its end portion covers one of the openings of the casing and its openings lie out of registry with all of the other openings.

8. A structure as recited in claim 6 wherein the openings in the plate are one less in number than the openings in the casing and wherein the length and throw of the plate is such that when in one position, its openings register with all but one of the openings of the casing and its end uncovers the remaining opening, and when in the other position, its end portion covers one of the openings of the casing and its opening lie out of registry withall of the other openings, and means for locking said plate.

9. A structure as recited in claim 6 wherein the openings in the plate "are one less in number than the openings in the casing and wherein the length and throw of the plate is such that when in one position its opening register with all but one of the openings of the casing and its end uncovers the remaining opening, and when in the other position, its end portion cOvers one of the openings of the casing and its openings lie out of registry with all of the other openings, and. means for locking said plate comprising a gravitally actuated member which lies in a recess of said plate until the casing is inverted to cause said member to move by gravity out of said recess.

10. A structure as recited in claim 6 wherein the openings in the plate are one less in number than the openings in the casing and wherein the length and throw of the plate is such that when in one position, its openings register with all but one of the openings of the casing and its end uncovers the remaining opening, and when in the other position, its end portion covers one of the openings of the casing and its openings lie out of registry with all of the other openings, means for locking said plate against endwise movement and means controllable from the exterior of the casing for moving the plate endwise after the locking means are released.

11. A structure as recited in claim 6 wherein the openings in the plate are one less in number than the openings in the casing and wherein the length and throw of the plate is such that when in one position, its openings register with all but one of the openings of the casing and its end uncovers the remaining opening, and when in the other position, its end portion covers one of the openings of the casing and its openings lie out of registry with all of the other openings, means for locking said plate against endwise movement and means controllable fromthe exterior of the casing for moving the plate endwise after the locking means are released, said means comprising projections upon the plate and openings in the end walls of the casing in alignment with said projections.

ALBERT J. HADERT. 

